Muhammad Ali to the Mandela Affect

Exploring the Wonders of Japan & Diving into Iconic Pop Culture Memories

In this engaging episode of Fun Facts and Sidetracks, Marty and Al  discuss Marty's recent trip to Japan. They  celebrate their podcast's ninth birthday and delve into nostalgic pop culture, recalling old shows like HR PufnStuf and Banana Splits. They discuss the Mandela Effect, revealing misremembered movie quotes, and share fascinating behind-the-scenes stories from the Rocky franchise's music selection. The episode wraps up with an entertaining story of a bar incident involving undercover cops and a detailed retelling of the legendary 'Rumble in the Jungle' fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

00:00 Welcome to Fun Facts and Sidetracks

00:31 Mart's Adventures in Japan

02:06 Podcast Milestone: Ninth Birthday

02:23 Listener Feedback and Nostalgia

05:14 The Mandela Effect Explained

09:21 Rocky and the Eye of the Tiger

14:48 A Crazy Bar Story

20:12 Unbelievable Coincidences

21:00 Listener Requests: Muhammad Ali

21:27 The Legend of Muhammad Ali

23:34 Ali's Iconic Fights

25:31 Ali's Legacy and Personal Life

36:14 Debbie Harry's Surprising Shopping Trip

37:49 Wrapping Up and Listener Engagement

If you have a fun fact you’d like us to share, send us an email to: funfactsandsidetracks@gmail.com or leave us a comment online at our social pages on Facebook or Instagram Thanks for listening and never be afraid to get sidetracked.

The boring disclaimer: We do try to double-check all of the facts we talk about. If something isn’t quite correct, we humbly apologise. Credit to our many sources including, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, Tim from Kicking Harold, Mental Floss, Wikipedia and so many more.

Transcript

Al: G’day and welcome to Fun Facts and Sidetracks. Classing up the place as always with me is Mart. How are you mate? 

Marty: I like that.

Al: You like it?

Marty: I do, eh? Yeah. Yeah. I’m a classy guy

Al: I know. Now, some people might not know that you have just returned from Japan.

Marty: Yes, I have indeed. What a place Japan is. Great. I could speak about it for ages, mate.

Al: Yeah.

Marty: good. The people are so nice and the place is so clean. And everyone seems to obey the rules. They stop it when the lights, they don't walk across the road. No one crosses the road. They wait until it turns green before allowed, they do everything.

They're told [00:01:00] it's, yeah, it's very good bins. They have no bins

Al: Wow.

Marty: But the cities are clean.

Al: Yeah, right

Marty: But they found that a cleaner so they don't have bins.

Marty: Can you imagine any other city? Pretty well if you said, yep, we're getting rid of all the rubbish bins, imagine what would happen. And yet it's just a hundred percent clean over there. Crazy. Yeah.

Marty: Yep. So many things they do. That's, um, interesting.

Al: Yeah. Right. Alright,

Marty: Mm-hmm.

Al: well I'm sure you've got lots of stories from Japan and London and Amsterdam and all the places you've been to. Oh goodness.

Marty: one night in Bangkok.

Al: Eh, not sure. We don't want to hear that story, but there might be a song in it.

Marty: It was actually four nights. So it's four nights in Bangkok.

Al: Even better. All right, let's get started.

Al: Yep. 

[00:02:00] 

. 

Al: Alright, Mart. Now you may not realize, but, today is our ninth birthday.

Marty: Oh, wow. Happy birthday.

Al: yeah, you too mate. know, the podcast now has nine episodes out in the world

Marty: That's an achievement.

Al: and they said it wouldn't last. But the really terrific thing is that we've had a bunch of people who've sort of come back to us and said, oh, really love this episode, or that topic, or whatever.

So we've had a few people come back to us with things that they'd like us to follow up.

Marty: What are they?

Al: Jeffo Smith who was telling me that he loved the HR Pufnstuf episode and  he's got a couple of teenage girls who he actually showed HR Pufnstuf too.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: you know, exposed them to the wonder of Pufnstuf and the Croft brothers and, yeah, they loved it.

Absolutely loved it. And he was

Marty: why wouldn't they?

Al: You know, we're [00:03:00] talking about Banana Splits. And he was saying, I remember Danger Island. you

Marty: uh oh Chongo!

Al: exactly.

Marty: and he's just running round everywhere, full hitting trees and

Al: Yeah,

Marty: it was crazy.

Al: yeah.

Marty: It was great.

Al: a live action sort of series that was within the banana splits.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: And they actually made 32 episodes of it. It was, it was over six hours. They made 32 episodes. they just put it into the middle of the Banana Splits.

Marty: It was great. I remember it.

Al: Yeah. Well, and the really cool thing about it, so it was kind of these bumbling pirates that were, getting around looking for treasure.

And, they're always, they always seemed to be getting in strife with Prof Irwin Hayden and his daughter Leslie And Lincoln ‘Link’ Simmons. And you know

Marty: Wow.

Al: played by?

Marty: Who?

Al: This young guy. It's Jan Michael Vincent. [00:04:00] He's the guy from Big Wednesday, right?

Marty: Wow.

Al: when you watch it, it's this young Jan Michael Vincent head getting around

Marty: Oh my goodness. Yeah. That seems such a long time ago.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: but

Marty: Yeah.

Al: they're always shipwrecked on some island or another. But um, yeah, the crazy sidekick Chongo that became a real kind of a catchphrase, you know? Oh,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: Yeah. So there you go.

Marty: And they used to do that and the, and the Banana Splits used to be running round. We bumping into each other, whereas they going, uh oh, chongo, and they're sort of like going crazy. What was it? There was a lion, a monkey, an elephant.

Al: Yep.

Marty: What's the other one? A lion, monkey and an elephant and something else

Al: An Irishman?

Marty: no, no.

Al: Dunno. We'll, we'll take that one on advice

Marty: Yeah.

Al: anyway. There's been a bunch of feedback we've got from people. Um, and so over the [00:05:00] coming episodes we'll kind of revisit some of that stuff and answer the things that people were talking about.

Marty: That's good.

Al: is terrific. Yeah.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: one of the ones I was playing tennis with, our good friend Gaz,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: and a friend of the show, and he was talking about the Mandela Effect.

Marty: Yes.

Al: Yes. And the Mandela Effect is, this sort of phenomenon that happens when a large group of people actually all remember the same thing differently to how it really occurred.

Marty: Yeah. I.

Al: Yeah, and so there's some pretty interesting examples of the effect, probably one of the most famous. This applies to you because your son is called Luke.

Marty: Yes.

Al: everyone thinks that Darth Vader said, Luke, I am your father,

Marty: What did he say?

Al: The real line is, Know, I am your father.

Marty: Know,

Al: Know, I am your father. Yeah.[00:06:00] 

Marty: that's what I say to Luke.

Al: Yeah, exactly. And you were the Darth Vader gear as well, right?

Marty: I am your father,

What am I? What am I gonna say to him now?

Al: Know, I am your father.

Marty: Okay. Know I am Your father,

Al: Another really good example of the Mandela Effect is ‘life is like a box of chocolates’.

Marty: I'm a Forest Gump.

Al: Yeah. But everyone thinks that's what he said. But in truth it was, life was like a box of chocolates

Marty: That's right. Well, wow. because you always hear laugh is like a box of chocolates, isn't it?

Al: Yeah. And, the Wizard of Oz, everyone thinks that the wicked witch said Fly. My pretties fly. But she never did. She

Marty: Okay. What'd she say?

Al: away saying, fly, fly, fly. There you go.

Marty: Wow.

Al: And from the same film, Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

She actually said, [00:07:00] Toto I’ve got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

Marty: Wow.

Al: And there's a whole bunch of 'em. Snow White - Mirror, mirror on the wall. The Wicked Queen doesn't ever say that.

She actually says Magic Mirror on the wall.

Marty: Oh God.

Al: So there's a bunch of these things.

Marty: funny, you know, you, when you get caught at even by yourself, like you, you remember something from a movie and it might not be as famous as that. And you, you, you remember it. And then when you see the movie, you hadn't seen it for years and years and it wasn't that you go, damn, I always thought it was.

Then you start questioning yourself.

Al: Yes, well, really good ones on that. Like, you know, for any of the Trekkies out there, kind of goes, beam me up, Scotty. know, it's,

Marty: Oh no,

Al: kind of what we all say if you want to get out of a situation, but

Marty: exactly.

Al: he never said that

Marty: Oh, what'd he say?

Al: so Captain Kirk, the closest he got to it was Scotty Beam us up.[00:08:00] 

Marty: Oh, wow.

Al: The Voyage Home in 1988. So all through that sixties series, he never said, you know, Scotty beam me up or

Marty: So I wonder what they're thinking. I wonder what they're thinking. Because they must have heard, they must have had people walk by and go, Hey, beat me up, Scotty.

Al: Yeah, exactly. Played it against Sam, probably one of the most famous

Marty: Yeah,

Al: Yeah.

Marty: you played it for her. Now play it for me. What did he say?

Al: He said, play it once Sam, for old times sake.

Marty: Oh wow.

Al: So there you go.

Marty: Yeah. That was a great movie.

Al: tThat kind of applies to things that people say, but also how we remember things might look. So, know, the monopoly guy, you probably think of him you think that he's got a monocle, but he doesn't have a monocle.

Marty: what does he have binoculars?

Al: Yeah, that's right. He's

Marty: what he had.

Al: an iron and a dog. 

Marty: And a shoe.[00:09:00] 

Al: Yeah. So

Marty: What does he, what does he have? He doesn't have a monocle

Al: just as these little eyes that look, well what do you think of Mart when you think of the theme tune to Rocky?

Marty: Oh, it's gotta be,

Al: I feel like I've watched that whole movie now. Um. No. Well, you are right. You are one of the few that are

Marty: oh my goodness.

Al: Gonna fly now. Right. Which was the to the first two movies. But a lot of

Marty: Wow.

Al: that, uh, Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, it was

Marty: of course.

Al: But it was only introduced for Rocky Three.

Marty: Wow.

Al: The other day I was listening to a podcast by the Rock and Roll Story guys, which is just great if you're into this sort of stuff. And they were

Marty: Hmm.

Al: this very song, and they were saying that had filmed Rocky III and it had all been edited and they just wanted the song

Marty: Yeah.

Al: He had this friend called John Scotti. And John Scotti was a, a guy who'd been an actor and a singer, but he was a band manager. he had a label with his brother

Marty: Yeah.

Marty: Scotti Brothers. They had artists like Leif Garrett, Weird Al Yankovich. They had this sort of an odd collection of artists, but one of them was Survivor. So. Stallone [00:11:00] was having lunch with John Scotti and he said, I need some music for the, the Pivotal, I think it's the, you know, the 10 minute scene where we see him doing all the training and the ….

Marty: Yes, yes.

Al: that sort of stuff. And, anyway, apparently Stallone liked the first few, records that Survivor had put out, and so he phoned the two sort of songwriters from Survivor, Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterick. And I'm not going to do the voice Mart, but he kind of went… Yo, Jim, this is Sylvester Stallone. Gimme a call. We need to talk. I didn't do anything. Stella.

Marty: He never said Stella.

Al: No. he didn’t. See you're wrong. That's a good one.

Marty: Sorry, Al.

Al: So he wanted them to write a song for this sequence,

All the vision had been shot, so they had to match the audio, even the beat [00:12:00] of the music to match all the punches and things in

Marty: Oh my goodness.

Al: sequence. And, they watched the 10 minute clip and then they said to Stallone, can you send us the whole movie?

Because. We want to see how it ends.

Marty: I.

Al: And it's only because he did that and they watched it. And there's a scene in which Apollo Creed says to Rocky, you used to have the eye of the tiger. You've lost it. And they went, there's a line.

Marty: Oh goodness.

Al: So they developed this song all around the Eye of the Tiger.

Marty: Isn't that funny? That's so good.

Al: and it's just an enormous hit.

It was, biggest hit

Marty: I.

Al: topped the US singles charts for seven straight weeks. I think it won a Grammy, had an Oscar nomination, all sorts of stuff. And, the fun fact about this is that the VHS that Stallone sent to them had Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust in that [00:13:00] spot.

Marty: Yay.

Al: And I believe Stallone actually wanted to use Another One Bites the Dust and, and the Queen guys didn't want to, didn't want to use it because it was already….

Marty: Oh.

Al: a song that was a couple of years old,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: they turned it down and yeah, I think the folk from Survivor were pretty happy that they did.

Marty: Oh yeah. It was a cruddy film clip too.

Al: Oh yeah.

Marty: You know, the big hair and maybe one of those like old man racing car sort of hats. You know those,

Al: Yeah.

Marty: what do they call 'em? Pork pie?

Al: beret.

Marty: I think so, yeah.

Al: Yeah.

Marty: or so. Everything's so foggy and they're walking down lanes.

Al: Well, apparently old mate with the beret, his voice went after the next album and he kind of singing. But I guess, you

Marty: Wow.

Al: stop, at least you've made it to the top and you've

Marty: Wow.

Al: won a Grammy and the whole thing. So yeah,

Marty: Yeah, it's terrific, isn't it?

Marty: there's, there's a quote from them. Which says, because they recorded the theme tune to Rocky Four, which is Burning Heart, [00:14:00] but it's always in the shadow of, Eye of the Tiger and they just said, we're comfortable with that.

Trying to compete with the past is for fools.  I'll never, ever tire of playing Eye of the Tiger. That song still kicks butt man.

Marty: Oh, it's terrific.

yeah, you can imagine him in the next movie going…. I don't think we should. I think we should just use Eye of The Tiger again.

Al: That's right.

Marty: Rocky 50. I think we should use.

Al: Yeah. Eye of the very old Tiger.

Marty: Yeah. The tiger.

Al: there's a few examples of the Mandela Effect.

Marty: Isn't that great?

Al: Yeah. Good fun. 

Marty: right now, I've got a crazy story. Another one of these crazy stories. I dunno where I get them from. They just keep coming. You are a source of great stories, I've gotta say. Yeah, no, I don’t know why. I remember, great [00:15:00] memory for stories. Yeah. But yeah, it was hopeless at school.

Well, anyway, okay, so this is, I was working at a bar. That was in a piano bar, and it was only walking distance from the police headquarters. And, um, now I used to get all these, and it was a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights. It was a very quiet night, but this bar used to really hop mm-hmm. In, you know, it was a good bar and, um.

The police, you sort of made it their, their place to come and drink. I used to get forensic people. They used to come and they used to say having drinks to chase the ghosts away and, and the, you know, really interesting stories. They used to tell me that, um, and plain clothes lot, they were basically all plain clothes.

There was no uniform policemen. Mm-hmm. I even got a guy that came in once and he was, he had, um. Uh, you know, the leather waist coat on black t-shirt, jeans, belt boots, tattoos, long hair. [00:16:00] And he was a copper from down south, you know, like, um, and they'd tell me these things. But anyway, I used to hear stories left, right, and centre about different things.

And this particular time there was something that was going down and it was really quite important that made the news and, and I knew these couple of plane closed policemen, and anyway. They came in and they were working on the case and they hadn't slept for a long time. And um, I was chatting away to them when they came in, just small talk.

And um, then another couple of plain clothes guys came in and they were standing away and I felt a bit awkward because they're all playing close couples talking about interesting stuff that we're working on. And I thought, well, I said, listen, I'm just gonna go back and do some work. I jumped up on the piano.

And now I used to do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights. The guy that used to do. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, he left his speakers on my little stage, so I put them [00:17:00] conveniently behind me to stop people stepping up behind me under my little stage and grabbing my microphone. 

Al: Oh, 'cause everyone wants to Sing. New York, New York, or whatever. 

Marty: I'm singing Uhhuh. They think they can do it and they'll come up and they just think I'm gonna grab his mic and start singing or come up behind me with their head and just push themselves onto the microphone whilst grabbing the piano and dropping the bloody. The lid onto my fingers.

Oh. Anyway, so I'm playing away of all songs, Desperado for the Eagles, Desperado, and I'm playing this song and I can read the room pretty well out, and I know trouble makers and they saw this guy come walking in. He probably would've been I don't know, 13, 14 stone, big businessman, you know. You could see we had a few to drink.

Mm-hmm. Soup. He's come in through the door and I'm playing this song and I can just see him. He's come in front of the piano, he's made a left to come around the [00:18:00] side. I can think, okay, this guy's going to, he's going to try and grab my mic or he is gonna, he's come up behind me to jump on the stage and he's tripped over these speakers.

Right Uhhuh, while these coppers are in, they're on the other side of the room. These police officers are. And an intense conversation. Mm-hmm. Okay. So this guy's come round the, the back of the piano tripped over the speakers, you know, 13 stone guy, there was, a light fitting. It was about six big glass balls, like fish tanks with lights in them. It was a, you know, display thing behind me, And, so he's tripped over the speaker, hit these things, send them spinning, smashing them, a few of them, and he's landed on my PA system now.

He's got a drink in his hand and he's landed. His full body has landed on my PA system. Now my PA system has a reverb unit in it, which if you [00:19:00] just, if I just kicked it with my foot a little bit, it goes like a really loud noise, Uhhuh and echoing noise and that the reverb unit in it. Okay, so this guy's landed on it.

And this noise that came outta my speakers sounded like a gun going off it, which just went like that. Uh oh. I stood up, turned around and there's this guy laying on the ground behind me like he's dead. He's not moving. 'cause he's in shock. Mm-hmm. He's just laying there. Big businessman. 

I verballed him because I'm just annoyed. Yeah. I've looked up and there's five police officers down, crouched up, looking around the room with guns out. And looking, like, looking as if someone's took a plug shot at this guy, and shot him. And I've looked at them, they've gone, what's going on? What's going on?

What's going on? And I said, uh, he tripped over and they said, what was the noise? And I went, this is my, my pa. [00:20:00] And I just kicked it again gently and made the noise. So they all sort of smiled, put their guns back in, grabbed the guy and dragged him outside and took him out to the street and then came back in again.

Wow. It was very tense. Like if all the things lined up like that, it would never happen. But it, it was just this, a sequence of things that lined up and it all happened in just a, you know, a small amount of time. But to see these coppers with their guns out in all different, like Starsky and Hutch type thing, you know?

Al: Yeah. Right. That's crazy. Do you remember what you played? Watching the detectives? I fought the law and the law one. Goodness me. Yeah. No crazy story. Yeah. But yeah, you've lived a life, haven't you? 

Marty: Oh, I don’t know about that Al\.

[00:21:00] 

Al: Mart, I mentioned that we've had a few people, um, coming back to us with things that they'd like to hear. I got a note from our cousin Geoff.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: Yeah. Big Geoff who, said Big Geoff, friend of the show.

Marty: Hey, Geoff.

Al: Hey Geoff. And he said, why don't you have a chat about, Muhammad Ali and the Rumble in the Jungle.

Marty: Oh yes,

Al: Yeah.

Marty: that, yes. It's so good.

Al: Yeah.

Marty: ah, he's such an entertainer. Muhammad Ali.

Al: Yeah, he was a beauty.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: It's, it's hard to explain how big Muhammad Ali was back then, like now, nowadays. I think if you said to someone who's the world heavyweight champion boxer,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: most people wouldn't know and most people wouldn't care.

Marty: yeah.

Al: But he was. He was probably. Amongst the top two or three celebrities in the world, right?

Marty: Yeah.

Al: Like as the most [00:22:00] respected, the most famous,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: the most photographed. Like whatever you want to…

Marty: it changed his religion. He,

Al: Did all that. Yeah,

Marty: changed his name. What about that song? Mohamed? Mohamed Ali.

Al: yeah,

Marty: Floats like a butterfly. And stings like a bee.

Al: yeah. Yeah.

Marty: it was a little bit better than that.

Al: No, that was it. Yeah. Muhammad, the black Superman, who calls to the other guy. Yeah.

Marty: to love that. I don't know anyone who wouldn't have

Al: Yeah. Well,

Marty: here's a funny story. I just, I've got a list one out.

Al: hmm.

Marty: I was probably, I, I was young. I was probably about 13 my brother Benny was, I don’t know, he was probably about. 15, coming out for 15. He used to sleep in the bed across from me in the room. was on one side, he was on the other, and he got up in the middle of the night and he was punching and he was going, and dad came into the room. [00:23:00] Say, Hey Benny, Benny, what are you doing? What are you doing? He went, I'm Muhammad Ali. I'm Muhammad Ali. He went, well, come on Muhammad. Get back into bed. He was sleep walking.

Al: Wow.

Marty: I just remember that. It was so funny.

Al: Well, there you go. He, he even filtered into people's dreams. Yeah,

Marty: I mean. Everybody knew about Muhammad Ali, didn't they?

Al: they did.

Marty: boxes apart from Mike Tyson. But they never made a song about him.

Al: No. Well, I mean, Mike Tyson, you know, says he's his hero and for good reason.

Ali won the heavyweight title three times in his career,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: which no one else has ever done.

He beat Sonny Liston. And then he returned to boxing and we'll touch on that. He beat George Foreman in 74

Marty: Yeah.

Al: and then, um, Leon Spinks in 1978. He'd lost his title to him seven months earlier. But yeah, they called him the Louisville Lip as well as the Black Superman and a whole bunch of other names because…..

Marty: [00:24:00] Yeah.

Al: He didn't mind mouthing off at people.

Marty: No, he was incredible. And the way he got the whole African community behind him.

Al: Yeah.

Marty: Was, I, there's a series you've got to watch about Muhammad Ali

Al: Okay.

Marty: good. It it's a like a documentary

Al: Hmm.

Marty: you a all through the Rumble in the Jungle

Al: Yeah. Right.

Marty: and how he hyped it up and how he made, Foreman the bad guy.

Al: Yeah. Yeah,

Marty: And another good thing you got to see is Billy Crystal. Billy Crystal

Al: yeah.

Marty: Slickers?

Al: Yep. I,

Marty: Well, he does a show he imitates. Muhammad Ali. Billy Crystal was a white little Jewish guy,

Al: hmm.

Marty: but he takes off his voice and he has the bell, like the bell….ding ding.

Al: Hmm.

Marty: And he does what Muhammad Ali said in the Rumble in the jungle

Al: Yeah. Right.

Marty: I'm so fast. I'm so fast. When I [00:25:00] turn off the light to go to bed, to my bed before. Before it gets dark or something, you know,

Al: Yeah,

Marty: but it's the way he says it. It just

Al: yeah,

Marty: Muhammad Ali and even his facial expressions.

Al: yeah. Right. Yeah. Wow. He's, he's really clever, isn't he? That guy.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: Yeah. And to be able to do that and do it in front of Ali and not be shaking,

Marty: yeah.

Al: it's a fair old effort.

Marty: right next to him and he's crying with laughter. He's

Al: Yeah. Right.

Marty: off. They became really good friends, apparently.

Al: Yeah. Okay.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: A lot of older listeners might remember when Ali came to the Logie Awards

Marty: Well

Al: in Australia.

Al: And with Bert Newton and, and everyone was loving him, and Bert Newton goes, I like the boy. And of course he had a massive issue with slavery.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: And, he kind of went, oh, what did you say?

You know, and, and, and Bert kind of played up to it and

Marty: I.

Al: said, you know, well, you know, call you whatever you like, but just don't hurt me kinda stuff.

Marty: Yes,[00:26:00] 

Al: But I guess that that's, you know, from the long tradition of, our cruddy awards shows feeling like they need an overseas celebrity to give them validity, but at least back then they got one of the biggest ones in the world, you know?

Yeah.

Marty: of good things of ham. He was, he was such a, he was a nice guy too.

Al: Hmm.

Marty: was, he was genuinely apart from his, you know, women, but, and he was a nice guy. Um, it was just like a school they had a, like a kid 

Al: Hmm.

Marty: a child probably about, I don't know, seven or eight, and saying, do you like Muhammad Ali?

And, and they'd talk about Muhammad Ali. He said, oh, what would you do if Muhammad Ali was here? And like he said, I, fight him and do this and that. And Muhammad Ali was in the background in gear and everything just standing there. And then they turn the kid around and there's the, you know, [00:27:00] so good.

Al: Oh, wow.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: Yeah. What a beauty

Marty: this

Al: he.

Marty: kid, little white kid, he's, he's saying, well, understand why he's, he talks really nasty about the other person. He's, I think he's a good boxer, but he, says some really nasty things, and then Muhammad Ali's coming right down on him, really close, you know, like behind him.

Al: Well, wow. What a buzz for that guy now.

Marty: For the

Al: Yeah. So let me give you a few fast facts about, Muhammad Ali and, and the Rumble in the Jungle. So he was actually named after anti-slavery activist, Cassius Marcellus Clay. So Marcellus being a, well, Marcellus being a pretty cool name in relation to, Pulp Fiction and all that too.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: He turned to Islam as Malcolm X did, and had his name changed in 1964. He began fighting because [00:28:00] his push bike got stolen. So he went to the police station and the officer was a boxing trainer and suggested that this 12-year-old kid learned to fight. So he joined the gym.

Six weeks later he won his first fight, by 22. He's the world heavyweight champion.

Marty: Wow.

Al: So.

Marty: He

Al: Uh,

Marty: didn't he?

Al: he did, he won the gold at the Olympics in 1960, but quite famously he returned home as an 18-year-old and, when he got home.

He was refused service at a diner in his home state.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: Even while wearing the gold medal and he later just told reporters he threw the medal off a bridge into the Ohio River. 'cause what good is it? You know, racism overcomes everything. So, he refused to fight in the Vietnam War

Marty: Yeah.

Al: and for that he was actually jailed and they stopped him boxing for a time as well.

So [00:29:00] he had to get his, boxing license back. So there was a few years there where he was kind of in the wilderness.

Marty: Isn't that crazy? Like it's hard to believe and it probably still goes on in lots of places, but it's hard to believe that happened to him.

Al: yeah,

Marty: he achieved.

Al: yeah. He won 56 out of 61, so it was a fair, odd record. But his first loss was in the fight they dubbed the fight of the century. That was to Joe Frazier.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: Yeah. Who had the signature left hook that sort of took Ali out. But in the Rumble in the Jungle, he was fighting George Foreman and this was in Zaire because they thought it was good for the reputation of the place.

So that's now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: The president wanted some positive publicity, so he secured the fight and, promised to pay them $5 million each, which he didn't have. But, nevertheless, the fight was [00:30:00] actually scheduled to be at 4:00 AM.

Marty: Mm.

Al: Local time so that it could be seen on American TV in prime time.

Marty: Yes.

Al: So not surprisingly, Don King was mixed up in this and he was the one that got the signatures of both Ali and Foreman on the promise that they get $5 million each.

Marty: Wow. That crazy hair.

Al: Don King.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: There was actually a, a three day music festival that took place in the buildup to, so the fight and the fight had to be delayed, but the music festival went ahead anyway, and now it's got people like BB King and Bill Withers and The Crusaders and a whole bunch of bands there.

You would've been in your element there, gosh.

Ali labelled the fight, the Biggest Event in the History of the World since Roman Gladiators,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: so he knew how to talk it up.

Marty: Oh

Al: I,

Marty: that's that. But he, he had something to back it up with.

Al: he sure did.

Marty: He lost his temper on, talkback show with [00:31:00] Michael Parkinson, and it was because he was dyslexic and I can't remember he said , Parkinson mean to offend him, I think he passed him a book or something to read or said, and he was anticipating that he had to read he really got, he flared up.

Al: right.

Marty: sort of, I can't remember what he said, but it got quite ugly

Al: Hmm.

Marty: towards Parkinson. Now Parkinson apparently when he saw his father next and his father was like a, used to work in the coal mines and he said to, 'cause he saw it in television too, it all calmed down on the telly. But he said to him after it, his father said to Parkinson, he said, oh, what happened?

He said, oh, well he, he got upset and da da da. Why didn't you punch him? He said punch him. Dad. That was Muhammad Ali.

Al: That could be a [00:32:00] career limiting move.

Marty: Parkinson said that. He

Al: Wow.

Marty: told me to punch Muhammad Ali.

Al: Wow. So, apparently on the night or on the morning of the fight at 4:00 AM Ali turned up late because somebody forgot his robe. So someone from the entourage had to go back and get it. So the fight was even later than, than they'd planned. But during the whole time, Ali was just mocking Foreman, even though

Marty: Yeah.

Al: he was oblivious to it while he was having his gloves tied and stuff.

At the end of the first round, Ali sat on his stool, looked across at Foreman and winked at him.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: After the third round, he took a detour to his stool via a closed circuit TV camera and pulled a face at it. So he is a real showman.

Marty: He was, he was so quick.

Al: Yeah.

Marty: Everything.

Al: oh, super quick. Apparently the ropes there was a big deal because the ropes on the boxing ring were really loose

Marty: Yeah.

Al: and they had to have them all [00:33:00] tightened up. In Ali's biography, the tactics that he used in the fight were called Rope a Dope,

Marty: Yeah.

Al: In the first round he used too much energy. So he thought he was more tired than he should be 'cause it was a 15 round fight. So he decided to do what he did in training with when he got tired, which was, in training, he'd let all the young guys just take shots at him and he'd just cover up and blocked everything.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: when they got tired, he just unleash.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: And that's what he did. Rope a Dope. And he, he took him out in the eighth round.

Marty: that's right.

Al: Yeah. Waltz him around for seven, take him out in the eighth. Mart.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: the sweet science.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: so there you go.

Marty: well

Marty: having George Foreman. Apparently the bag that he used to punch was so heavily dented because he just used to like punch and it was like to the rib area

Al: oh wow.

Marty: and Muhammad Ali would walk past, like walk past where he was [00:34:00] punching. It's like, imagine seeing that and thinking, I'm getting in the ring with this guy.

He was huge.

Al: Yeah. Oh, he was amazing. In the end, they became pretty good friends and Foreman admitted that, you know, he lost too Ali fair and square.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: Later on, foreman actually worried about Ali and he said to him that, you know, he was worried for him. And Ali said to him, if that's true, George, God's gonna mess up a good man because I'm giving all my money to poor folks.

And then in 1984, they were reunited to, celebrate the anniversary of the fight. And, Foreman was pretty upset about he could see Ali's health deteriorating even then.

Marty: Yeah.

Al: and he said, I'm trying to find the right words. He was a tough old boy, I'll be honest, a better fighter than me.

But now I just feel sorry for him. I just want him to have some dignity. I'd like to teach Ali how to fish. He needs something so he doesn't [00:35:00] just sit there staring into space.

Marty: I

Al: you know.

Marty: was very sad.

Al: Yeah. Very sad. 

Marty: someone that was just, he was a genius and a brilliant fighter, brilliant talker, he made that stuff up on the spot, you know.

Al: yeah, he was a poet. He had had a book of poetry

Marty: yeah.

Al: He retired from boxing in 1979, and then as boxers do, he went back into the ring and in 1980 and then he retired for good, at age 39. So I think people could see that it wasn't doing him any, any good.

He was only 42 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Marty: Yeah.

Wow.

Al: he passed away in 2016,

Marty: Hmm.

Al: so he hung in there for a long time.

Marty: Yeah,

Al: But, again, it's really hard to explain just what a legend the guy was.

Marty: yeah. In his prime. And then

Al: Yeah.

Marty: him even at the Olympics when he did that thing at the Olympics, he was just sort of,

Al: Yeah.

Marty: I think he lit the flame.

Al: He lit the flame. [00:36:00] Yeah. But he was a good one. And thanks to Geoff for, suggesting that's a, that's a beauty.

Marty: Good on

Al: Hmm.

Al: Hey, here's another, fun fact from Jeffo Smith. We, a little while ago, talked about Debbie Harry.

Marty: Yes, of course. Yep.

Al: Yeah. And you know, when she was, early days in New York and all that sort of thing. Well, he was saying that a friend of his worked for Sherry's Disposals. Do you remember Sherry's Disposals? Yeah. So for people who don't know, they were disposals outlets and there were a lot of them around the place.

But if, if you wanted to get sort of camouflage gear or any, any sort of army camo sort of stuff, that's where you went, Hey,

Marty: right. Is there any stores open? I thought there was one on Stuart’s Road. 

Al: is there. 

Marty: Yeah,

Al: I don’t know, [00:37:00] but, this friend of his ran

Marty: I.

Al: one of these stores, was the manager and when she was on tour, who walked in, but Debbie Harry.

Marty: Imagine that.

Al: Yeah, I know.

Marty: It'd be

Al: Picture this apparently, all the staff were sort of nervous about who would serve her and this guy being the manager, got to do that. And she bought some boots.

And if you look on the back of parallel lines there, the actual boots.

Marty: How

Al: Um, yeah. So you know, the most famous album

Marty: terrific.

Al: from, this little, it's probably Sherry's Disposals in the Valley or something, you know.

Marty: I would've

Al: Yeah.

One way or another. There you go. Fun fact. Thanks Jeffo.

Marty: That's a great little story.

Marty: Now it's time to say goodbye. No, it is time to say goodbye. I think we've done enough today. What do you reckon? 

Al: Uh, I think we've definitely had enough. What [00:38:00] if I'm singing the Mickey Mouse theme?

Marty: No. Look. Hey, if you think we've got something wrong or you'd like to give some a bit of input, we'd love to hear from you.

Yep. Jump on our Facebook or Instagram pages or send us an email. 

Al: Yeah, send us an email to fun facts and sidetracks@gmail.com. We'll see you now. 

Al: See you Mart. Thanks for popping in. No worries.